Method and means for feeding caps



METHOD AND MEANS FOR FEEDING CAPS Filed Jan. 27, 1964 5 Sheets-5heet lINVENTOR. Geomag (j. Foss BY UMWIWM Arm/may ec. M w66 @1F-@Ss METHOD ANDMEANS FOR FEEDING CAPS 5 Sheets-.Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 27, 1964 IM'ENTOR.@604265 d Foss Dec, 6, W66 G. J. FOSS 392391333 METHOD AND MEANS FORFEEDING CAPS Filed Jan. 27, 1964. 3 Sheetsheet 5 :LLL- 11. E.

NVENTOR. 63504205 F065 BY WWMMM ATTORNEY United States Patent G3,239,383 ME'I'HGD AND MEANS FR FEEDING CAPS George J. Foss, Lancaster,Ohio, assignor to Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation, Lancaster, Ohio, acorporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 27, 1964, Ser. No. 340,318 14 Claims.(Cl. 53-22) The present invention relates to a cap feed chute forsealing machines and more particularly to such a cap feed chute havingan improved ca-p heating means and cap atmosphere `control forpermitting the control of container headspace vacuums and particularlylow vacuu-ms.

In sealing machine operations where closure caps are applied tocontainers at high speeds it is customary to feed the caps to containersby chutes or similar cap handling devices to present the caps one at atime to moving containers. Where flowed-in gaskets or liners of the heatsoftened thermoplastic type are used in the caps it has been founddesirable to heat these gaskets or liners so that they are softenedpreparatory to being forced against the container `sealing surfaces inthe sealing operation.

Such cap handling means are very often used in vacuum type sealingmachines where the containers passing through the sealing machines aresubjected to a steam atmosphere or to steam jets so that containerheadspaces are filled with steam prior to the application of the caps.This intry of steam into the container headspaces displaces the air fromthe headspaces and provides a partial vacuum after sealing when thecontainers cool and the steam condenses.

In such machines where steam is available it has been proposed to usesteam in the cap supply means or chute to provide the above describedheating action as the steam provides a simple and available source ofheat for the closure ca-p liners or gaskets.

It was found, however, that vacuum control could not be maintained withsteam heating of the caps particularly for low vacuums. I havediscovered that this loss of vacuum control results from the entry ofsteam into the regular steam tunnel from the cap chute and directly intothe container headspaces from the heating steam trapped in the caps sothat it is impossible to reduce the amount of trapped steam to thedesirable amount for providing the particular low vacuum desired.

The method and apparatus of the present invention provides a novelexhaust means in combination with a steam heating means for heating capgaskets and for thereafter exhausing the heating steam from the capsprior to the application of the caps to the containers.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide animproved method and means for vacuiun sealing using closure caps withheated gaskets or liners. Another object of the present invention is toprovide an improved method and means for heating caps with steam and forthereafter applying the caps to a container with a controlled degree ofvacuum.

Another object of the present invention i-s to provide an improved meansfor heating caps in a sealing .machine cap feed.

Gther and further objects f the invention will be obvious upon anunderstanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, orwill be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages notreferred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employmentof the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes ofillustration and description and 3,289,383 Patented Dec. 6, 1966 ICC isshown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification,wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational View partially in section illustrating apreferred embodiment of the cap feed means of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the cap feed means of FIG. l partially cutaway;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the ca-p feed means of FIG. l taken alongline 3-3 of FIG. l illustrating the exhaust portion of the cap feedmeans;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the exhaust portion of the cap feedmeans partially cut way; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are sectional views of the cap feeding means showingmanifolds for heating the undersides of caps taken along lines 5-5 and6-6 of FIG. l.

The cap feed of the present invention is for use on sealing machineswhich seal containers with closure caps. In such machines the caps arefed serially to the containers for an initial placement of a cap on eachoontainer top and a subsequent nal sealing operation. Such a machine forexample is illustrated and described in United States Patent No.3,054,234 owned by the assignee of the present invention. In sealingmachines such as the straight-line sealing machine of the above patent,containers are moved in a straight line beneath a cap feed whichincludes a chute for feeding the caps downwardly towards the movingcontainer and for presenting a cap to the top of each of the movingContainers. The containers draw the caps from the chute and carry thembeneath the cap applying and sealing devices where the caps aresuccessively lightly applied to the container sealing nish and then areeither pressed or rotated into sealing position depending on whetherpress-on or threaded-type caps are 'being used.

In such sealing machines, a source of steam is used for forming apartial vacuum in the headspace or the sealed containers. This is doneby injecting the steam into the container headspaces prior to theapplication of the caps so that the steam remains trapped in theheadspaces after the sealing and subsequently forms a partial vacuum bycondensing when the headspaces cool. For this pur-pose the containersare passed through a chamber filled with setam and having a steamdistributor alongside the container paths and in some cases a tunnelwithin the chamber which directs steam directly into the open headspacesof the containers.

FIG. 1 illustrates a sealing machine l having a hollow steam chamber 2positioned above the path of moving containers 3 on a conveyer 4. Thecap feed 6 is normally placed at the steam chamber 2 so that caps arefed to the containers 3 within the chamber 2 after the injection of thesteam into the container headspaces by a steam distributor 5o and alsoin some cases by a steam tunnel 5 to trap the desired amount of steam inthe container headspace. It is convenient although not necessary to forma cap feed support as an integral part of the molded hollow tunnelmember 5 such as the cap feed support 7 illustrated in FIG. 1.

A preferred embodiment of the cap feed 5 comprises an inclined chute 8which directs caps from a cap feeding hopper (not shown) to a positionwhere the caps are drawn onto the moving containers as illustrated bythe cap 9 (FIG. l). The chute S comprises a bottom 10 (FIGS. 3 and 4)with spaced cap support rails I1 and a pair of side rails l2 whichloosely hold the caps in place in a single line.

A top rail i3 is mounted above the side rails l2 on suitably spacedsupports 14. The supports 141 conveniently mount a pair of spaced andinterconnected. turn-buckle screws 16 which provide for the support andsimultaneous adjustment of the side rails 12 through threaded supportarms 15.

In order to hold the desired vacuum in the sealed packages it isnecessary to have a tight seal formed between the cap gasket or linerand the container finish in the sealing operation. It has been foundthat this result is best obtained with the presently used types ofowed-in heat cured gaskets, such as plastisol or other thermoplasticgaskets, where the gasket temperatures are raised immediately prior tothe sealing operation. It has been further found that the gaskets aresatisfactorily softened in this manner by subjecting them to steam inthe chute 8 as the caps pass down the chute 8. This is done in thepreferred embodiment of the cap feed through the use of a pair ofelongated steam supply pipes or manifolds 18 coupled to a source ofsteam through an inlet 19 (FIG. 2) and by spaced bottom manifolds 26 and27 which inject steam directly into the undersides of the caps 9 (FIGS.l, 5 and 6). The pipes 18 have a series of small apertures 20 throughouttheir length which direct the steam downwardly against the cap tops. Themanifolds 26 and 27 whose details are illustrated in sectional FIGS. 5and 6 direct steam into the cap 9 interiors. Manifold 26 communicateswith the cap undersides through ports 28 in the bottom 10 of the chute 8and manifold 27 through ports 29 in the cover 33 of the support 7 andthrough slots 21 in the chute bottom 10. Steam is supplied underpressure to the bottom manifolds 26 and 27 through inlets 30 and 31respectively. In order to cooperate with the downward movement of thecaps in the cap chute 8, the ports 28 are slanted in the direction ofcap travel as illustrated in FIG. 1. The ports 29 are similarly slanted.

In order to provide for an adequate softening of the closure cap gasketssuch as flowed-in plastisol gaskets, steam must be supplied to the chute8 through the manifolds 18 at a high rate and thus at an elevatedpressure. This causes steam to be entrapped within each cap 9 and alsotends to cause a cloud of steam about the chute 8 and within the chamber2.

It has been found that this entrapment of steam in the caps 9 in thechute 8 interferes with the headspace vacuum control since the amount ofsteam carried into the container headspaces under the caps and also theamount of steam passing into the chamber 2 from the chute 8 is excessivewhere a relatively low container vacuum is being used.

The preferred embodiment of the chute 8 has a steam exhaust port 22 nearits lower end.

The exhaust port 22 communicates with a hollow chamber 23 in the capchute support 7 which is coupled by a suitable outlet 24 (FIG. 2) to asteam exhaust system for evacuating steam from the chamber 23. The port22 is located near the lower end of the cap chute 8 and the apertures orslots 21 in the chtite bottom plate 10 draw the steam from the caps 9and the surrounding portions of the chute 3 into the exhaust system.

As illustrated by the arrows in FIG. 3, a substantial portion of thesurrounding atmosphere drawn through the exhaust port 22 will beprovided from the general surrounding atmosphere adjacent the lower endof the cap chute 8 and within the sealing machine chamber 2. Due to thepositioning of the apertures 21 and exhaust port 22 immediately beneatha closure 9 adjacent the lower end of the chute S, this atmosphere willpass through the underside of the cap 9 and will replace the heatingsteam previously entrapped under the cap 9. The amount of steam in thisreplacing atmosphere depends on the operating conditions of the sealingmachine and where a low vacuum is being used this atmosphere willautomatically contain a relatively minor amount of steam since little orno steam will be injected into the container headspaces by the tunnel 5.Thus for low vacuum operation the atmosphere within the chamber 2 willcontain only a relatively minor amount of steam in low concentrationsand the container headspace itself will have a negligible amount ofsteam therein. The cap 9 after the above de scribed exhausting actionwill also contain only negligible amounts of steam. This permits ecientsteam heating of the closure cap gaskets with effective control of thecontainer headspace vacuum by the regular steam tunnel means.

The valve 32 may be opened to connect the tunnel 5 t0 the hollow exhaustchamber 23 and the steam supply to tunnel 5 cut off. This combination isfor very low vacuum sealing where additional steam is removed from thevicinity of the traveling containers through tunnel 5.

Alternatively for extremely high vacuum sealing, the valve 32 may beleft open and exhaust outlet 24 closed. Steam is now supplied to bothchamber 23, steam distributors 5a, and tunnel 5 to assure a full supplyof steam t0 the headspace of sealed containers.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangementof the parts herein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to beunderstood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrativeand not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A closure cap feed for a container sealing machine comprising thecombination of means for feeding closure caps having gaskets tocontainers, means at the cap feeding means for steam heating the gasketsyin the closure, and means for exhausting the heating steam from theclosure caps prior to the closure caps engaging a container.

2. A closure cap feed for a container sealing machine comprising thecombination of means for feeding closure caps having gaskets tocontainers, means at the cap feeding means for steam heating the gasketsin the closures, and means for exhausting the heating steam from theclosure caps and from the cap feeding means prior to the closure capsengaging a container.

3. A closure cap feed for a container sealing machine comprising thecombination of an elongated inclined chute for feeding closure caps tocontainers, means extending along a portion of the chute for steamheating the gaskets in the closures, said steam heating meansterminating short of the lowermost end of the closure cap feeding chute,and means for exhausting steam from the closure caps and from the capfeeding chute adjacent to the lowermost end of the steam heating means.

4. A closure cap feed for a container sealing machine comprising thecombination of an elongated inclined chute for feeding closure caps tocontainers, a steam manifold extending along a substantial portion ofthe chute and having spaced steam outlet ports for steam heating thegaskets in the closures, said steam manifold terminating short of thelowermost end of the closure cap feeding chute, and means for exhaustingsteam from the closure caps and from the cap feeding means adjacent tothe termination of the steam heating manifold.

5. A closure cap feed for a container sealing machine comprising thecombination of an elongated inclined chute for feeding closure caps openside downwardly to containers, a steam conduit having spaced outletports extending along a substantial portion of the chute for steamheating the gaskets in the closures, elongated channels in said chutefor exposing the undersides of the cap to the steam, said steam conduitterminating short of the lowermost end of the closure cap feeding chute,and an exhaust aperture for exhausting the heating steam from theclosure caps and from the cap feeding means adjacent to the terminationof the steam heating conduit.

6. In a container sealing machine the combination of means for feedingclosure caps to containers, a first steam distribution means at the capfeed for steam heating the gaskets in the closures, means positioned inadvance of the exit end of the closure cap feeding means for exhaustingsteam from the closure caps and from the cap feeding means prior to theclosure caps engaging a container, and a second steam distribution meansspaced remotely from said first means for directing steam into thecontainer headspaces.

7. In a container sealing machine the combination of inclined chutemeans for feeding closure caps to containers, a rst steam distributionmeans extending along a portion of the cap feed for steam heating thetop sides of caps in the chute means, a second steam distributing meanspositioned to heat the undersides of caps in the chute means, and anexhaust port adjacent the exit end of the closure cap feeding means forexhausting steam from the closure caps and from the cap feeding meansprior to the closure caps engaging a container.

8. In a sealing machine for sealing containers with closure caps thecombination of a steam chamber, means for moving containers through thechamber with the container headspace exposed to steam Within thechamber, means for feeding closure caps to the tops of the movingcontainers in the chamber, means including a plurality of steammanifolds positioned on opposite sides of the caps for heating thegaskets of the closure caps with steam at the cap feeding means, andmeans in advance of the exit end of the cap feed means for exhaustingthe heating steam from the underside of the closure caps and from thecap feeding means.

9. In a sealing machine for sealing containers with closure caps havingthermoplastic gaskets the combination of a steam chamber, means formoving containers through the chamber with the container headspaces ex`posed to steam Within the chamber, means for feeding closure caps to thetops of the containers in the chamber, means for heating the gaskets ofthe closure caps With steam at the cap feeding means, and an exhaustaperture in advance of the exit end of the cap feed means for exhaustingthe heating steam from the underside of the closure caps and from thecap feeding means whereby the atmosphere Within the container headspacesupon the application of the caps to the containers comprises steam of aconcentration generally similar to that of the steam atmosphere Withinthe steam chamber adjacent the moving containers.

10. In a sealing machine for sealing containers with closure caps havingthermoplastic gaskets the combination of a steam chamber, means formoving containers through the chamber with the container headspacesexposed to steam Within the chamber, an inclined chute for feedingclosure caps to the tops of the containers in the chamber, steamdistribution means for heating the gaskets of the closure caps Withsteam extending along a portion of the feed chute, means in said chutefor exposing the underside of the cap to said heating steam, and a steamexhaust port in advance of the exit end of the cap chute for exhaustingsteam from the underside of the closure caps and from the cap feedingmeans whereby the atmosphere within the container headspaces upon theapplication of the caps to the containers comprises steam of aconcentration generally similar to that of the steam atmosphere Withinthe steam chamber adjacent the moving containers.

11. In the method of feeding and applying closure caps havingthermoplastic gaskets to containers the improvement which comprisesheating the gaskets with steam as they are fed towards the containers,and thereafter exhausting the heating steam from the inside of the capsand from the atmosphere surrounding the caps prior to the nal feedingand application of the caps to the containers.

12. In the method of feeding and applying closure caps havingthermoplastic'gaskets to containers the improvement which comprisesapplying steam to the gaskets as they are fed toward the containers, andthereafter substantially exhausting the heating steam from the inside ofthe caps and from the atmosphere surrounding the caps prior to theapplication of the caps to the containers.

13. The method of feeding and applying closure caps having thermoplasticgaskets to containers in a sealing machine which comprises filling theheadspaces of the open containers with steam by a first steamdistribution at a predetermined concentration of steam and air, feedinga cap toward each container, steam heating the cap gaskets by a secondsteam distribution at a position remote from the containers, exhaustingthe gasket heating steam from the caps, and thereafter applying the capsto the containers and entrapping steam from the first distribution inthe container headspaces.

14. The method of feeding and applying closure caps having thermoplasticgaskets to containers in a sealing machine which comprises feeding a captoward each container, directing steam against the top and underside andgasket of each cap at a position remote from the container, thereafterexhausting the steam from the caps and from the atmosphere surroundingthe path of the caps, and applying the caps to the containers.

No references cited.

TRAVIS S. MCGEHEE, Primary Examiner.

13. THE METHOD OF FEEDING AND APPLYING CLOSURE CAPS HAVING THERMOPLASTIC GASKETS TO CONTAINERS IN A SEALING MACHINE WHICH COMPRISES FILLING THE HEADSPACES OF THE OPEN CONTAINERS WITH STEAM BY A FIRST STEAM DISTRIBUTION AT A PREDETERMINED CONCENTRATION OF STEAM AND AIR, FEEDING A CAP TOWARD EACH CONTAINER, STEAM HEATING THE CAP GASKET BY A SECOND STEAM DISTRIBUTION AT A POSITION REMOTE FROM THE CONTAINER, EXHAUSTING THE GASKET HEATING STEAM FROM THE CAPS, AND THEREAFTER APPLYING THE CAPS TO THE CONTAINER AND ENTRAPPING STEAM FROM THE FIRST DISTRIBUTION IN THE CONTAINER HEADSPACES. 